Southern California surfers were preparing for a third day of huge waves spawned from hurricane Marie on Thursday. Spectators have lined the shores of the Wedge in Newport Beach and other popular beaches, where 20-foot waves were crashing and some of the world’s best surfers were riding

Associated Press

Thu 28 Aug 2014 09.05 EDT

Surfers enjoying the high surf with waves up to 25 feet high at the Wedge, a famous Newport Beach surfing spot. ‘It’s as big as Southern California ever gets,’ Peter Mel, a prominent big-wave surfer just back from an event in Tahiti, told the Orange County Register. ‘It’s perfect.’ Photograph: Ted Soqui/Corbis

The towering waves and rip currents were being produced by swells generated by Hurricane Marie in the Pacific Ocean about 800 miles west of the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula. Photograph: ZUMA/REX